The Robin Hood of American religion goes online

by Michael Mazza, Columnist

You can order a dizzying array of goods and services over the
Internet today. Books, music, computers, dating services, stocks,
automobiles -- it's all a click away. Religion is no different than
any other aspect of human life in this respect. Everyone -- from the
largest established churches to the most exotic emergent religions --
offers various ministries right over the Internet. But one unique
church takes Internet ministry to the most radical extreme. The
Universal Life Church (http://www.ulc.org) will ordain anyone to the
ministry for free, for life and with no regard to race, gender, sexual
orientation, nationality or theological position. And they'll do it
online.

It doesn't matter whether you are a Christian, Satanist,
Kabbalist, Wiccan, atheist, or a creator of your own "homemade"
religion. The ULC, from its international headquarters in Modesto,
Calif., and its monastery in Tucson, Ariz., welcomes all.

It's no joke. ULC ministers have the legal authority to perform
weddings and funerals, to start their own congregations, and to take
advantage of many of the fringe benefits that priests, rabbis and
ministers of other religious organizations enjoy.

The ULC actually pre-dates the cyber-era. This unique denomination
was established in 1962 by Kirby J. Hensley, an illiterate former
Baptist from North Carolina.

Fed up with the hypocrisy and dogmatism of the mainstream
churches, Hensley began ordaining anybody -- without question -- for
free. Full page articles about him in Time (21 Feb. 1969) and Newsweek
(5 May 1969) added to his status as the Robin Hood of American
religion.

Hensley's church has spent nearly four decades fighting those who
have challenged its legitimacy. Supported by the First Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, however, the ULC has far more victories than
defeats under its belt.

The ULC's success has, unfortunately, enticed some unethical
individuals to seek ordination. Some have attempted to use their ULC
credentials for such illegal activities as setting up phony tax
shelters. But mainstream churches are not immune to such abuses,
either.

I think it's unfair to condemn the ULC as a whole for the misdeeds
of a few. In fact, the worldwide community of ULC ministers and
congregations is probably the most diverse and interesting religious
body I have ever encountered.

This church includes ministers like Anton de Beer of ULC of South
Africa, whose church is a progressive voice in a country where
mainstream religion was once complicit in the horrors of apartheid.

The ULC also includes ministers like Vance Williams of Texas, a
committed Christian who lives with lupus and mixed connective tissue
disease. The ULC seems to have opened up a unique ministry opportunity
for this disabled man.

This denomination also provides home for Pagans, Wiccans, and
other religious minorities who have no home in "mainstream"
churches. The Rev. Cristiana Gaudet of the ULC of Putnam, Connecticut
offered me the following insight on this aspect of the ULC:

"As a Wiccan/Pagan, our ordinations and initiations are not legal
credentials. While it has taken me years to achieve the knowledge I
have, I need to be legally recognized as a minister, and therefore
need the ULC ordination."

Other ULC ministers are on the cutting edge of the ongoing fight
for First Amendment rights. Consider Charles Oren Anderson, an
incarcerated ULC minister at the Southern Desert Correctional Center
in Nevada. In 1993, he sued prison director Ron Angelone for the right
to lead services.

The ULC even provides a home for college students and others who
want to set up their own idiosyncratic or "joke" religions. One of my
favorite such churches is "The Church of the Almighty Revealed in
Biotechnology," founded by Ram Samudrala.

Ram is doing research in computational genetics at Stanford
University. Since he is a "staunch atheist," his religion is grounded
in computers and science.

Maybe Ram's church is just a joke to you. But as Brother Daniel
Zimmerman of the ULC monastery in Tucson wrote me, "All religion is a
joke until one believes it."

The ULC reached a turning point in its colorful history in March
of this year, when founder Hensley died. His passing inspired Wren
Walker, of the Wiccan site witchvox.com, to eulogize Bishop Hensley as
"a visionary and truly a man ahead of his time."

I agree with Walker, and I have no doubt that the church that
Hensley built will continue to grow and prosper as the new millennium
approaches. And who knows, maybe I'll apply for ordination one of
these days. When I do, you're all invited to join my congregation.

Michael Mazza supports your right to freedom of religion, and
hopes that you will be so kind as to return the favor.